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NBA Reveals Dates, Groups For In-Season Tournament

July 8th, 2023 at 7:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA has announced the five-team groups that will used for the league’s first-ever in-season tournament, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The unveiling took place Saturday during a special episode of ESPN’s “NBA Today” held at “NBA Con” in Las Vegas.

The groups were determined in a draw similar to what is used in soccer’s World Cup. There are six groups — three each from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference — and each conference was split into five pots based on last season’s standings. One team was randomly selected from each of the pots to determine the opening-round matchups.

The results are:

Group 1: Sixers, Cavaliers, Hawks, Pacers and Pistons.
Group 2: Bucks, Knicks, Heat, Wizards and Hornets.
Group 3: Celtics, Nets, Raptors, Bulls and Magic.
Group 4: Grizzlies, Suns, Lakers, Jazz and Trail Blazers.
Group 5: Nuggets, Clippers, Pelicans, Mavericks and Rockets.
Group 6: Kings, Warriors, Timberwolves, Thunder and Spurs.

The tournament will start with group play, which will match each team with the other four in its grouping. Those games will take place on Nov. 3, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24 and 28.

The winner of each group will advance to a knockout round, joined by the team with the best record in each conference among those who didn’t win a group. Quarterfinal games will be played Dec. 4 and 5, hosted by the higher-seeded teams. The four winners in that round will move on to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the Dec. 7 semifinals and the Dec. 9 championship game.

Bontemps points out that all teams will play within their conference until the last game, which guarantees an East vs. West matchup, just like the NBA Finals.

“Everybody’s not going to buy in right away,” admitted Joe Dumars, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations. “So that can’t be the goal that everybody’s going to buy in from day one. These things take time. And I think, as time goes on, I think you can build this up and people can really get into it.”

The championship trophy will be called the NBA Cup, and players will receive $500K each for winning it. Other prize money includes $200K for second place, $100K for losing in the semifinals and $50K for losing in the quarterfinals. The league opted not to provide other incentives, such as a guaranteed playoff spot, for the tournament winner.

We passed along more details on the in-season tournament right here.

Rockets Acquire Dillon Brooks In Five-Team Deal

July 8th, 2023 at 7:03pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 8: The complex five-team trade that sends Brooks to Houston has been finalized, the Rockets announced in a press release The breakdown of the deal, which combined several separate trade agreements, is as follows:

Rockets acquire Brooks (via sign-and-trade), the Clippers’ 2026 second-round pick, the Grizzlies’ 2027 second-round pick (from Clippers), and the draft rights to Alpha Kaba (from Hawks).
Hawks acquire Usman Garuba, TyTy Washington, the Timberwolves’ 2025 second-round pick (from Rockets), the Rockets’ 2028 second-round pick, and cash (from Thunder).
Grizzlies acquire Josh Christopher.
Thunder acquire Patty Mills, a 2024 second-round pick (from Rockets), the Rockets’ 2029 second-round pick, and the Rockets’ 2030 second-round pick.
Clippers acquire Kenyon Martin Jr.

In a separate deal, Oklahoma City will ship Mills to Atlanta in exchange for Garuba, Washington, Rudy Gay and a second-round pick.

6:04pm: The Rockets will acquire Brooks via sign-and-trade, generating a trade exception for the Grizzlies, Wojnarowski confirms (via Twitter).

Sources tell Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link) that Houston is trading Josh Christopher to Memphis. Although Iko doesn’t specify it will be part of a Brooks sign-and-trade, that seems logical.

The Grizzlies’ trade exception for Brooks would be $11.4MM due to base year compensation rules, notes Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (Twitter link). If Christopher heads to Memphis in the deal, that TPE would shrink to $8.9MM, Gozlan adds.

5:20pm: The Rockets and Brooks have agreed to a four-year deal worth $80MM, agent Mike George tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

The deal will have a descending structure, tweets Wojnarowski. It will be fully guaranteed, with no player or team option, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link).

As with VanVleet, Houston’s offer in order to secure a commitment ended up being for more years and more money than initially anticipated.

JULY 1, 4:35pm: The Rockets are close to reaching a contract agreement with unrestricted free agent Dillon Brooks, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

While Houston has the cap room necessary to sign Brooks outright, the team has been engaged in trade talks around the league, according to Charania, who says a sign-and-trade with the Grizzlies is a possibility if the Rockets reach a deal with the veteran forward.

Brooks was frequently linked to the Rockets in the days leading up to free agency. One report indicated that Houston was preparing to offer him a deal in the range of $14-16MM annually, while another stated the team had a meeting lined up for Friday or Saturday with the 27-year-old.

Brooks is a talented perimeter defender who earned All-Defensive Second Team honors this spring, but he has become an increasingly erratic shooter, making a career-worst 39.6% of his field goal attempts in 2022/23. His three-point percentage dipped to 32.1% on 5.6 attempts per game during the last two seasons after he converted 35.3% of 4.5 threes per game in his first four seasons, all with the Grizzlies.

On top of his offensive struggles, Brooks’ outsized personality and aggressive playing style have gotten him into trouble both on the court and in interviews off it. He received three one-game suspensions this season, once for an on-court altercation with Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell and twice for accumulating so many technical fouls.

Brooks ultimately wore out his welcome in Memphis, with a report after the season indicating that the Grizzlies didn’t plan to bring him back “under any circumstances.” His performance during the team’s first-round loss to the Lakers was reportedly considered to be a breaking point. Brooks referred to Lakers star LeBron James as “old” following Memphis’ Game 2 win, suggesting the NBA’s all-time leading scorer was well past his prime.

He was then ejected from Game 3 for hitting James in the groin, surrendered a pair of key baskets to LeBron in a Game 4 loss, and was eventually fined $25K for declining to speak to reporters after three games of the series (all losses). Offensively, Brooks shot just 31.2% from the field and 23.8% on three-pointers across six playoff games.

A change of scenery could benefit Brooks, and the Rockets have reportedly been prioritizing tough, defensive-minded veterans under new head coach Ime Udoka. Houston has reached an agreement with Fred VanVleet and was said to be aggressive in its pursuit of Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Brook Lopez, who ultimately decided to remain in Milwaukee.

Spurs Sign Gregg Popovich To New Five-Year Contract

July 8th, 2023 at 6:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Gregg Popovich has signed a five-year contract to remain head coach of the Spurs, the team announced (via Twitter).

The new deal is worth $80MM, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, surpassing the record six-year, $78MM deal that Monty Williams got from the Pistons last month.

Popovich also serves as San Antonio’s president of basketball operations, and Wojnarowski notes that the contract doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be the team’s head coach for the next five seasons (Twitter link).

At 74, Popovich is already the oldest coach in NBA history, and the new deal will keep him on the sidelines until nearly his 80th birthday if he coaches through its entirety. It also ensures that he will have ample time to develop Victor Wembanyama, who is expected to be San Antonio’s next franchise player.

Popovich’s most recent contract expired at the end of last season, but the Spurs have been operating under the assumption that he was coming back. That became a near certainty after the team landed the top spot in the lottery and the chance to draft Wembanyama.

Popovich first joined the Spurs in 1988 as the lead assistant to Larry Brown. He left for the Warriors for a couple of seasons in the early 1990s, but returned to San Antonio in 1994 as general manager and vice president of basketball operations.

Early in the 1996-97 season, Popovich named himself head coach, a position he has held ever since. He has the most coaching victories in NBA history with 1,364 and has guided the Spurs to all five NBA titles in franchise history. He has also been named Coach of the Year three times and has served as head coach in four All-Star games.

Popovich has been active in international competitions as well, leading Team USA to the gold medal in the most recent Olympics.

Desmond Bane Signs Five-Year Max Extension With Grizzlies

July 8th, 2023 at 3:41pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JULY 8: The Grizzlies have officially completed Bane’s extension, the team announced in a press release (via Twitter).

JUNE 30: The Grizzlies are signing shooting guard Desmond Bane to a five-season maximum rookie scale extension, agents Jim Tanner, Max Wiepking and Terrence Felder tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

While Wojnarowski says the deal will be worth $207MM, that amount is a projection, as the exact sum will be tied into the league’s salary cap.

Based on Woj’s wording in his reports on the new extensions for Bane and Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, it sounds as if Bane’s deal will likely not include the Rose rule escalator, which would have allowed him to qualify for a starting salary worth up to 30% of the cap.

If that’s the case, Bane’s new deal will feature a starting salary worth 25% of the 2024/25 salary cap when it goes into effect next year.

As Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial tweets, Bane’s new agreement will now leapfrog All-Star Memphis point guard Ja Morant‘s contract as the priciest in team history. Morant agreed to his five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension exactly one year ago.

Bane has quickly outperformed his selection as the No. 30 pick out of TCU in the 2020 draft. Last season, the 25-year-old averaged a career-high 21.5 PPG on .479/.408/.883 shooting splits. He also chipped in 5.0 RPG, 4.4 APG and 1.0 SPG in his 58 healthy games with Memphis. Thanks to the strong play of Morant, Bane and Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies finished with the West’s second seed for the second straight season, this time with a 51-31 record.

Injuries to starting center Steven Adams and reserve big man Brandon Clarke greatly impeded Memphis’ frontcourt during its first-round playoff series against the seventh-seeded Lakers, and the Grizzlies fell in six games.

Suns Frontrunners To Sign Bol Bol

July 8th, 2023 at 2:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns are the favorites to sign Bol Bol, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says rival teams are expecting the free agent big man to land in Phoenix.

A former second-round pick, Bol hit waivers on Tuesday, with Orlando opting to move on from him before his salary for 2023/24 became guaranteed. He cleared waivers on Thursday and became a free agent, allowing him to join any team.

Bol’s unique skill set for his slender 7’2″ frame – including an ability to handle the ball – has long intrigued teams and fans, but he was limited to 53 games in Denver during his first three years in the NBA due to injuries. He enjoyed his best season in 2022/23, staying on the floor for 70 games and averaging 9.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in 21.5 minutes per night.

While Bol’s overall numbers were solid, it was a tale of two seasons for the former second-round pick. He put up 11.9 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.6 BPG with an impressive .584/.361/.740 shooting line in his first 41 appearances. In his final 29 games, his playing time and shooting efficiency dropped off, as he scored double-digit points just three times and had averages of 5.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 0.7 BPG on .447/.098/.806 shooting.

Once Josh Okogie‘s deal is official, Phoenix will have 15 players on standard contracts, not counting Bol. However, Jordan Goodwin only has a small partial guarantee, while Ish Wainright is on a non-guaranteed deal, so the team has some roster flexibility. The club would only be able to offer Bol a minimum-salary contract.

The Suns’ interest in Bol was previously reported by both Marc Stein and John Gambadoro.

Draymond Green Re-Signs With Warriors On Four-Year Deal

July 8th, 2023 at 1:12pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 8: The Warriors have officially re-signed Green, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).

JUNE 30: Draymond Green is re-signing with the only club he’s ever known, agreeing to a four-year, $100MM contract to remain with the Warriors, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The final year of the deal will be a player option, Charania adds. Marc Stein reported shortly before free agency officially opened that $100MM to return to Golden State was looking likely for Green. He previously declined his $27,586,224 player option for 2023/24 in order to sign a long-term deal, which has come to fruition.

Green, 33, is one of the most accomplished players of the 2023 free agent class. The 2016/17 Defensive Player of the Year, Green is an eight-time All-Defensive Team member, four-time All-Star, and two-time All-NBA member.

More importantly, he’s a four-time NBA champion, spearheading Golden State’s defense during the team’s dynastic run over the better part of the past decade. You can easily make the case that he’s been the most impactful defensive player of his generation.

The forward/center is also an accomplished play-maker, holding a career average of 5.6 APG. In 73 games last season, he averaged 8.5 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 6.8 APG, 1.0 SPG and 0.8 BPG on .527/.305/.713 shooting in 31.5 MPG.

According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Warriors will save $43MM toward the luxury tax in ’23/24 as part of the deal. Green will earn $22.3MM next season, with annual raises in subsequent seasons.

Wizards Sign Kyle Kuzma To Four-Year Contract

July 8th, 2023 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 8: The Wizards have officially re-signed Kuzma, per Josh Robbins and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

According to The Athletic’s duo, Kuzma’s four-year deal will actually be worth $90MM guaranteed, with $6MM in unlikely incentives tied to team performance. It won’t contain any team or player options, but it will feature a 15% trade kicker, Robbins and Charania add (via Twitter). It will also have a descending structure, starting at $25.6MM and eventually dipping to $19.4MM by year four.

JUNE 30: The Wizards and forward Kyle Kuzma have agreed to a four-year, $102MM deal that will keep him in Washington, agent Austin Brown tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Kuzma is coming off a career year, averaging 21.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists on .448/.333/.730 shooting in 64 games last season (35.0 minutes). His points, assists and minutes per game all represented career highs.

A former late first-round pick (27th overall in 2017), Kuzma won a championship with the Lakers in 2019/20, having spent his first four seasons in Los Angeles. He was sent to the Wizards in the summer of 2021 as part of the Russell Westbrook trade.

It’s an interesting transaction for both Kuzma and the Wizards, who have drastically remade their roster after trading Bradley Beal (to Phoenix) and Kristaps Porzingis (to Boston). Kuzma was looking for a major payday after declining his $13MM player option for 2023/24, and he found a nine-figure deal to remain with Washington.

Kuzma, alongside former Warriors guard Jordan Poole (whom the team acquired for Chris Paul), figures to be a major part of the Wizards’ offense in ’23/24. When engaged, he’s also a solid defensive player, and is still developing in other areas.

Still, it remains to be seen whether or not Kuzma will be in Washington’s long-term plans. The team’s front office — led by president Michael Winger — was completely revamped, so time will tell how they’ll choose to build out the roster.

Rory Maher contributed to this story.

Paul Reed Receives Offer Sheet From Jazz

July 8th, 2023 at 10:32am CST by Arthur Hill

Restricted free agent Paul Reed has signed an offer sheet with the Jazz worth $23MM over three years, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Sixers will have until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday to match the offer if they want to keep Reed.

Sources tell Wojnarowski that the offer contains a unique provision that guarantees the first season of the new contract, while the other two will only become guaranteed if his team reaches the conference semifinals in 2023/24. That would total $15.7MM over two years, and Wojnarowski points out that Philadelphia is much more likely than Utah to advance in the playoffs during the upcoming season.

Woj also notes that the Sixers will exceed the $165MM luxury tax threshold if they match Reed’s offer, which would cost them an estimated $14MM in tax penalties. Reed would have the option to veto trades for a year if he stays with Philadelphia.

The Jazz will use their $7.7MM room exception to complete Reed’s offer sheet, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. He points out that Utah used its cap space in its trade for John Collins and its renegotiation-and-extension with Jordan Clarkson, whose salary for 2023/24 rose from $14.3MM to $23.5MM.

Reed saw his role expand in his third NBA season as he averaged 4.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 69 games. He emerged as the primary backup to Joel Embiid as the season wore on and appeared in all 11 playoff contests.

The Sixers are re-signing Montrezl Harrell and are adding free agent center Mohamed Bamba, so Reed’s role might not be as secure if he stays in Philadelphia for another season.

Blazers Match Mavericks’ Offer For Matisse Thybulle

July 8th, 2023 at 5:35am CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 8: NBA teams were notified on Friday night that the Blazers officially matched the Mavs’ offer sheet for Thybulle, reports Marc Stein (via Twitter).

JULY 6: The Trail Blazers have elected to match the three-year, $33MM offer sheet that Matisse Thybulle received from the Mavericks, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The offer sheet was signed and submitted to Portland Thursday morning, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The new Collective Bargaining Agreement gives teams just one day to decide whether to match offer sheets if they’re received before noon.

Thybulle’s new deal contains an $11.5MM player option for the third season, per Wojnarowski. It also features a 15% trade kicker, tweets Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report.

The Blazers will keep the 26-year-old swingman, who was acquired in a February trade with the Sixers. Thybulle was a restricted free agent after not working out a contract extension with Philadelphia last summer.

Thybulle is a defensive standout, with two appearances on the All-Defensive team in his first four seasons. He struggled to score with the Sixers, although his numbers improved after coming to Portland, where he became a full-time starter and averaged 7.4 PPG in 22 games while shooting 43.8% from the field and 38.8% from three-point range.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks details (via Twitter), Thybulle will have the right to veto any trade for the next year and cannot be dealt to the Mavs during that time. He will become trade-eligible on January 15.

According to Marks, the Blazers are $3.4MM below the luxury tax line with 13 players under standard contract, while the Mavs are $9MM below the tax and still have access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which starts at $12.4MM in 2023/24.

The move is a setback for Dallas, which is hoping to remake its supporting cast around Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. The Mavericks are acquiring Grant Williams from the Celtics in a sign-and-trade deal and may search for another defensive-minded wing on the free agent market now that Thybulle is unavailable.

Mavericks Re-Sign Kyrie Irving To Three-Year Contract

July 7th, 2023 at 10:34pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 7: Irving’s new contract with the Mavericks is official, the team announced (via Twitter).

JUNE 30: The Mavericks and star guard Kyrie Irving have reached an agreement on a new contract within the first hour of free agency, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

According to Charania, Irving will sign a three-year, $126MM contract that will include a player option in the final season. That’s an average of $42MM annually, which is a little below Irving’s 2023/24 maximum of $47.6MM.

While Irving is certainly enigmatic and has missed an alarming amount of games over the past four seasons, there’s no question that he’s an elite scorer and ball-handler when he’s on the court, having averaged 27.1 PPG, 5.8 APG, 4.9 RPG and 1.3 SPG on .491/.395/.914 shooting in 163 games (36.0 MPG) over that span.

Dallas acquired Irving in February after he requested a trade ahead of the deadline. Considering the Mavs gave up two solid role players (Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith) as well as an unprotected 2029 first-round pick to land the 31-year-old, they were always viewed as the frontrunner to re-sign the veteran guard.

A former first overall pick, Irving has earned numerous accolades during his career, including eight All-Star nods, three All-NBA appearances, a Rookie of the Year award, and a championship trophy with the Cavs in 2016.

It will be interesting to see how the Mavs build out the rest of their roster around Luka Doncic and Irving, two incredible offensive talents who don’t always put forth much effort defensively.

Rory Maher contributed to this story.